Funday Times

Gaveshaka looks at the impact of the temperance movement
Senanayakes in the fore front
Liquor has always been a major source of revenue for the government. Just as today, it was so even in the early days of the British rule. The temperance movement started to protest against the opening of taverns in different parts of the country. Most of the national leaders began their patriotic journey through this movement. Temperance societies were set up in various parts of the county. Large crowds attended meetings organised by the societies in the rural areas.

Mention is made of a temperance society meeting organised by Don Spater Senanayake, a wealthy businessman from Botale, Mirigama involved mainly in the plumbago industry, attended by around 20,000 people providing the starting point for the Senanayake family to get into national politics. There were three sons - F.R, D.S and D.C - who were to figure prominently in the constitutional reforms in later years.

The eldest son F.R (Fredrick Richard 1882-1926) has been described as a courageous leader who was forthright, straightforward and generous. Having gone to England for higher studies, he became a barrister and returned to the motherland. He did not practise as a lawyer for long and by 1912 was an active participant of the temperance movement. He was among the leaders who were arrested by the British during the 1915 riots but was later released.

He played a prominent role in sending E. W. Perera to England to urge for constitutional reform and he himself was a member of a later deputation. In 1920 he became President of the Mahajana Sabha and was also President of the Buddhist Theosophical Society (1923-25). His son R.G. (Richard Gotabhaya) was an active politician serving as a Minister in several governments. A statue of F R Senanayake has been erected opposite the Colombo Town hall and floral tributes are paid to remember him on January 1st every year - the day he died.

Brother D.S. (Don Stephen Senanayake 1884-1952) played a much more prominent role in the country’s political history and is remembered as the Father of the Nation for his contribution towards gaining Independence.

He attended St Thomas’ College but did not pass any examinations of note. As a teenager he started work as an agriculturist and managed the father’s plumbago mines. He too entered public life in 1912 as a temperance movement worker and was arrested in 1915 only to be released after 40 days without any charges being framed against him. After the release, he went about the areas where the riots had taken place and started collecting evidence on the misconduct of the British administration.

D.S was a founder member of the Ceylon National Congress (1919) and was soon in the forefront of national politics in the agitation for constitutional reforms. Having been elected as member of the Negombo District in the Legislative Council in 1924, he became secretary to the Unofficial members in the Council. He was among the Legislative Council members who accepted the Donoughmore Constitution and at the first elections to the State Council in 1931, was elected uncontested to the Minuwangoda seat.

The Donoughmore Constitution introduced the Executive Committee system when members of the State Council divided themselves into seven committees. The chairman of each committee became a member of the Board of Ministers - the equivalent of the present day Cabinet of Ministers, though with much less powers.

D. S. became Minister of Agriculture and Lands both in the first and second State Councils. One of his early acts was the establishment of the Minneriya scheme (1934) to settle colonists and opening up land for paddy cultivation. When he was chosen to act as Leader of the State Council when Sir Baron Jayatilaka went abroad in 1936, it became clear that he would succeed Sir Baron.

In 1941, he inaugurated the Minipe Ela irrigation scheme which was yet another big project to increase paddy cultivation in the island. In 1942 he was elected Leader of the State Council and Vice-Chairman of the Board of Ministers succeeding Sir Baron Jayatilaka who went to India as envoy. Following a declaration on constitutional reform by the British Government in 1943 with a request for the Board of Ministers to submit their proposals, he initiated drafting a new constitution which was published as a Sessional Paper in 1944.

In the meantime, the British Government appointed the Soulbury Commission (Lord Soulbury, Sir Fredrick Rees & F J Burrows), which arrived on 22 December 1944 and began sittings on January 22 1945.

D.S. Senanayake prepared a memorandum claiming Dominion Status which was favourably considered by the newly elected Labour Party government in Britain. October 1945 turned out to be a significant month when the report of the Soulbury Commission was published and a White Paper outlining the decisions of the British Government on a new constitution was released.

In May 1946 the new constitution was gazetted and on 18 June 1946, the Governor made an announcement in the State Council that the British Government had decided to make Ceylon a dominion. The last meeting of the State Council was held on 1 July 1947 and Ceylon got ready for general elections to elect members to the House of Representatives under the new constitution, which came to be known as the Soulbury Constitution.

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